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I am sure everyone recieves those emails where the alarm is sounded and people are told something is in the works you need to weigh in on, only to dig a bit deeper to find it is a dead issue from 1974. I hate when that happens probobly more then most and try to vet things as much as any 1 person can. Thats why when I tell you this is a serious issue I hope that rings true.

The UN Treaty herethat is being passed around for final inspection if ratified will change the way that copyright is interpreted and handled as much (and in many ways more then) the Millennium Copyright Act that basically neutered public domain for the rest of your life and most of your childrenâ€™s. The many points to this treaty can be found here, but the biggest crux is that if ratified it will encapsulate all copyright and creative commons work with an additional â€œbroadcasters copyrightâ€ which will force any user of IP to get in writing the ok of not only the IP owner but the corporation that broadcast it (in absolutely any media format) before they can do anything to it, even index it, and this is an extremely important point for everyone but more so Podcasters.

This is something that shouldnâ€™t pass and needs a public death to put a freeze in this kind of singular interest lawmaking. The people who are pushing this Treaty the hardest is the US and we donâ€™t all agree on it. If we pull the treaty will die. Please read the document and the abstract and decide for yourself if this is something you would want to have law. If not please contact your representatives in your own fashion or go here and fill out a form to direct it to the correct individuals. This is important, the vote is in 2 weeks.

The treaty which is not only raising the ire of the online community also lists as its opponents:

Written by Christopher Hudgens

Christopher Hudgens is the Operations Manager for BaS and works in various other capacities for other organizations in the Chicago Art & Culture scene. Most recently as Business Operations Manager for the Bridge Art Fair and currently an advocate for all things art & technology.